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Use old Atx case with nu MoBo?

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by rivrbyte

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Hi there,
I am somewhat perplexed on how to go about rebuilding a new,updated computer,so I have a few questions.

I have about a four year old CSCOMET ATX Computer case with a 300W PSU I purchased at pcinfinity online. it was pretty much ready to go except I installed a few Cd ROMs,and PCI cards...Well, The ECS (Eliteboard) Motherboard failed and I have been using my friends Compaq with an ATHLON 1.2 GHz with 256 pc100 SDRAM,and so looking forward to rebuild a new, faster, and updated computer.

With newer hardware (Hard drives,Cd-ROMs, pci-e cards,More powerful CPU's)....
The main Question is:
Is it necessary to purchase a brand new ATX case, or will a 600W PSU fit into my old existing case, and just add more fans? I would like this new system to be energy efficient if possible,but not overheated. Or just bite the bullet and buy a new case with power supply already installed.

Reuse my old cd-ROM drives, an 80 GB hard drive, or do they also become obsolete with use of new Mobos?

I stripped everything off the old Mobo except my power and LED plugs.

I have two 3.5" bays (one for Floppy and the other maybe for a front USB,A/V input, since the original case did not come with it,only a floppy space)
I also have Four regular slots for CD-ROM drives.
I have a case side fan, The PSU has a fan, the CPU should have a fan and I think there are case holes to insert more fans.

How many fans are necessary for a cool environment when I'm thinking about a 600-650w PSU, One,maybe two 120 GB Hard drives-internal, one CDROM and one DVD-RW, Intel E 6600 CPU, One PCI-E card,maybe a sound card if not onboard,and an E-Sata plug in for an external hard drive to store all the data and use the main hard drive for Applications?

There are sites I can go to to check the wattage needed,but maybe someone could give me an idea about my case. Also Looking for onboard e-sata in the back of Mobo. (I heard it was maybe faster than USB2.0 on the External hard drive. So when I buy an external,I was told to make sure it has both e-sata and USB connections)

When my Mobo crashed before, First I thought it was my PSU,I replaced four fans and every time, the fans would spin,then shut off. I jumped the power button switch on the Mobo and the fans started and stopped. the con census was that the Mobo crashed.

I would hate to go through all this, then have the power switch button fail, that's the only reason why I thought I should buy a new case,and also the 80 or 120mm fans.

Thank you all so much for your patience!

2 replies

by thechas

You do have a lot of questions.

Here are answers and suggestions on a few.

You should be able to install the new hardware in your existing case.

Generally speaking, unless you buy a fairly expensive case you can find a better separate power supply than the ones that come with cases.

While not impossible, it is getting more and more difficult to find a motherboard that still has 2 standard 40 pin IDE ports on it.
Many have only a floppy port and one IDE connector. More and more have just SATA drive connections.

Overall energy efficiency is governed by your choice of components. It is much easier to make an efficient general purpose computer than an all out gaming machine.

The less heat your video card and CPU produce, the less important lots of fans will be.

More important than the number of fans is how the air flows over the heat producing components. Blowing cool air in near the bottom of the case and exhausting the hot air at the top is usually the way to go.
I personally like to have around 10% more air (fan CFM rating) blowing into the case than the exhaust fans blow out. This makes it easier to filter the air going in and keeps the inside of the PC free from dust the longest.

At work, most of our filtered positive air flow in rack mount systems are still dust free inside even after running 24/7 for 10 years.

Chas

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